23. Communities of Practice: Learning Together for Just Sciences
Emma McKay, McGill University; Carolina Cruz Vinaccia, Myko Social Score Project
Posted: February 28, 2022 Accepted Languages: English/Inglés/Inglês, Spanish/Español/Espanhol, Portuguese/Portugués
As we attempt to build technologies that facilitate living together, more scientists will need to be fluent in the fundamentals of STS critique and praxis. Many scientists are seeking knowledge and expertise from other fields to inform and enact social-justice oriented change, but may find traditional discussion in journal articles and classroom settings STS inaccessible. Communities of practice, where a group of people “share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger, 2011) are a medium in which to do so.
In this panel, we will discuss collaborative, educational, and action-oriented practices that bring STS research and critique together with science. What ways exist of creating space for questioning, learning, and critiquing the culture of science? How can practicing scientists at all levels experiment with ways to change this culture? What theory guides this work, and how can we consider it praxis?
We are seeking papers which address these questions in any capacity. We are especially interested in case studies from participants or organizers of reading groups, political action groups, and other nontraditional & community-based organizations that bring STS and practicing scientists together. Connections to educational theory are welcome. Examples of action are strongly encouraged!
This panel will facilitate discussion of intentionally co-produced making, doing, and changing of sciences. This is a direction that STS has been growing towards in recent years; an explicit connection with non-traditional education and activist practices will add to the praxis-related discussion.
